Mechanical engineer David Baxter has notched up a half-century milestone.

The 65-year-old has worked as a panel beater and mechanic from the same premises at Skipton Auto Services in Water Street, Skipton, throughout those years.

When he arrived aged 15 to take up his apprenticeship as a panel beater at the then Craven Motor Company, he didn’t come far. He lived in nearby Commercial Street and had attended school in Water Street.

David, of Sunmoor Drive, Skipton, started at the garage for the princely sum of £2 ten shillings and six pence in old money. He now runs the place as an independent garage with his partner George Allan, who himself has notched up 43 years at the same garage.

“I’ve enjoyed it all and still enjoy coming to work,” said David, who intends to carry on for another three years.

He recalls how, in the early days, he worked on the split-screen VW vans which are now a cult vehicle and, in the 1970s, sold a VW Beetle a day. He also remembers working on Isetta bubble cars and on three-wheeler Reliant Robins.